Reading Ideas

In Johnson County

"“Rebellions are built on hope" - Samira Ahmed, Internment The military of this dystopian futuristic United States forces Layla Ahmed into an internment camp. This internment camp is for Muslim..."Read more

Events

Coming Up...

Classes presented by the Johnson County Genealogical Society will help your family history research using genetic genealogy. Whether you are just starting to think about taking a DNA test or have already tested...Central Resource Library

Having read all the Little House books many, many times, I was very excited when I heard about Pioneer Girl: the Annotated Autobiography. I would get to read the true story behind the beloved fictional narrative.

Imagine, at the age of 30, discovering you're not typical — or rather, not neurotypical. What could have been a scary diagnosis turned out to be very empowering for David Finch. His personal story of coping with Asperger Syndrome and saving his marriage paints a picture of hard-earned possibility. Finch may be at the milder end of the Asperger/autism spectrum, but for a neurotypical like myself, I learned a lot about the life of someone whose brain works very differently from my own.

Belinda Carlisle seems to have lived the quintessential rocker’s life—starting off poor and dreaming of a magical life, being in love with music at a young age, starting a band almost on a whim, seeing her band rise to fame, drowning in drugs. Belinda’s story, Lips Unsealed, is one of brutal honesty about how her own shortcomings and insecurities kept her in the grip of addiction even while her life seemed perfect and almost fairy-tale like to those on the outside. Her life reads as an inspiring

Elisabeth Tova Bailey has a mysterious illness that lasts for many years. At one point during this illness she is confined to her bed. She can only sit up or hold a book for minutes at a time. She has been removed from her beloved farmhouse to a condo in the city so that she can be cared for around the clock. One day a friend brings Elisabeth a snail that is nestled in a pot of violets. This is the story of how a snail ferries one woman through countless hours of suffering into a place of wonder-induced healing.